In the battle against Alzheimer’s, there are many grounds
for hope, but everyone should bring a skeptical eye to
news stories trumpeting a treatment just around the
corner. Hope, not hype. That was the theme of the
NYC Chapter’s annual scientific meeting held at the
Times Center on October 18th, and titled “Alzheimer’s
Research: What’s Behind the Headlines.”

“We are so grateful to our friends in the media,” Chapter
President & CEO Lou-Ellen Barkan said. “They’ve
helped us keep the story alive. But we worry that some
of these hyped-up headlines will frustrate people when
they learn that a prescription is not yet available. It can
be heartbreaking.”

The lively panel discussion among three leading
Alzheimer’s researchers—a new format for the Annual
Meeting— was moderated by Sapna Parikh, ABC News
medical correspondent. “Do you think a disease modifying
drug is likely in the near future?” Parikh posed this tough
question to the three scientists: Sam Gandy, M.D., Ph.D.,
an Alzheimer’s professor at Mount Sinai, Effie M. Mitsis,
Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry at Mount Sinai,
and Ralph A. Nixon, M.D., Ph.D., Professor; Director
of Silberstein Institute, NYU Langone Medical Center.
Responding to this, Dr. Gandy counseled that research
and testing take time. “Even the best idea may be five
to 15 years away,” he cautioned. Nevertheless, all three
researchers stressed, progress is happening on many fronts.
Each is working on a diff erent approach to understanding
the disease, preventing it, and treating it. And all of these
avenues show tremendous promise.

The direction of Dr. Gandy’s research, for example,
has led him to study amyloid, the sticky substance that
clumps in the brain of people with Alzheimer’s. Recently,
he’s studied how nerve cell communication regulates the
generation of amyloid and he’s uncovered a promising
link between diabetes and Alzheimer’s: a particular
gene that controls the risk for both Type-2 diabetes and
Alzheimer’s. “If people have this gene,” he said, “they’re
at risk for both types of illness. Now we have a single
molecule that’s a way into the process.”

Tackling Alzheimer’s from a completely different
direction, Dr. Mitsis is using brain imaging to study
combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who’ve
suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI) as a result of blast
exposure. “These young men,” she reported, “have
memory problems and depression. And we know that traumatic brain injuries (in boxers, for example) are a risk
factor for Alzheimer’s.” Another group at high risk for
Alzheimer’s, she noted, are those with Mild Cognitive
Impairment. So, through imaging, she will study those
who have Mild Cognitive Impairment with and without
a history of TBI to determine whether a brain marker,
like amyloid plaques, can be identified in those who
have this history and whether any change in the marker
predicts who will develop Alzheimer’s. By using imaging
at different time points, she can track whether there is
any change in the amyloid over time and whether that
results in worse outcomes. Her goal is to be able to detect the onset of Alzheimer’s disease early on.
For Dr. Nixon, the path to understanding and treating
Alzheimer’s may be through what he calls the “trash
recycling systems” of brain cells. Throughout our lives,
he explained, our cells produce waste but have a way
of digesting it, a process called autophagy or “selfeating.”
When we age, this system breaks down. One
exciting development is the discovery that mutations
of presenilin, a gene required for this recycling process,
are associated with early-onset Alzheimer’s. There’s also
been a related and equally exciting discovery. Drugs
that extend life span in experimental animals all have
the ability to promote autophagy. “These new drugs are
very promising,” Dr. Nixon reported, “and some large
pharmaceutical companies are working on this right now.”

To learn what such developments really mean, the
panelists stressed, don’t rely on the headlines. For every
study reported, Dr. Nixon said, “Your local Alzheimer’s
Association Chapter is likely to give you sage judgment
on what’s smoke and mirrors and which have something
to them.” Also check the website of one of the
Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers, added Dr. Gandy.
And whatever the source, Dr. Mitsis suggested; don’t
forget to maintain a critical eye. Ask questions like, “Who
were in the sample? Were they representative?”
For the present, Dr. Gandy said, the greatest hope for
Alzheimer’s may lie in prevention. For example, using
imaging to identify people early to see who’s building
amyloid. Even though amyloid-lowering drugs don’t help
those who already have the disease, he said, these drugs
may help those who have not yet developed signifi cant
amyloid in their brains. As for current treatments, Dr.
Gandy said, “Only physical exercise has been proven in
clinical trials to slow the progression of the disease.”
Can exercise help prevent Alzheimer’s? It sure can’t hurt, the
panelists suggested. “You have a hedge on delaying the onset
of Alzheimer’s,” Dr. Nixon said, “if you keep your weight
and fat-intake low, and control diabetes and hypertension.”
The real answer to all these questions is research and
more research, and we all need to support it in every
way possible, urged Lou-Ellen Barkan. “Funding for
Alzheimer’s research is in jeopardy now,” she said. “We
need more dollars, and we need more subjects for clinical
trials.” She herself has enrolled in a study, she told the
group, and the Association has created a wonderful new
tool to make it easy for everyone—with or without the
disease—to enroll. It’s called the Alzheimer’s Association
TrialMatch™. “To participate, just click on ‘TrialMatch™’
on our website,” Barkan said, “or call our 24-hour
Helpline at 800-272-3900.”

In this spirit of hope, Director of Programs & Services
Jed Levine recognized this year’s Research Award
Grantees. Their scientific work could be the key to
fi nally unlocking Alzheimer’s. We know such work takes
years, Levine acknowledged, then, with a mix of gravity
and levity, begged, “Please hurry it up a little.”
Francine Russo, author of They’re Your Parents,
Too!, is a keynote speaker at conferences, hospitals,
senior living communities, banks, and other groups
serving boomers and the elderly.